


New Year’s Day

by LazySundayMusings



Category: Peter Kay's Car Share (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2020-11-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:01:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,344
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27324670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LazySundayMusings/pseuds/LazySundayMusings
Summary: Continues four days after the events of “Good Reception”.
Relationships: Kayleigh Kitson/John Redmond
Kudos: 6





	New Year’s Day

Wednesday 1 January, one-fifty pm, Paul’s house

John was sitting in the middle of one sofa with a half-asleep Sophie leaning against his left side and a drowsy Kayleigh to his right. Paul and Monique were on the other sofa while John’s mother Olivia was in the soft single-seater just off to the side. Ben was sitting on the floor in the corner, being two hours into the build of his new Lego truck and in no mood to listen to adults “talking about dumb stuff.”  
“The idea,” John was saying, “was that I’d start early and just work through to closing, which would mean I’d be toast at the end of it and in no shape to go anywhere. That’s why I’d said Kayleigh should just go out and enjoy herself.”  
“Oh. Right. So, how long in total at the store?”  
“About sixteen hours.”  
“A sixteen-hour day?!”  
“Yep. Well, that plus wake-up and go-home time as well, so, nineteen hours all told.”  
Monique could only stare.  
“But...” said Kayleigh.  
“But,” John continued, “I managed to get away for four hours at lunchtime so I could look in on Muffin and get a bit of sleep, and so I ended up doing two shifts rather than one long stretch. Still a long day, but I wasn’t a complete wreck by the time everything got locked up at ten. And it helped that the last couple of hours were quiet, what with the company deciding to stop alcohol sales after seven o’clock. Having Big Ben and his mate out front certainly helped.”  
“Big Ben?”  
“Security guard. Built like a brick” - he glanced down and to his left - “outhouse. Likes his pies. A really nice guy.”  
“But...” said Kayleigh.  
“But,” John continued, “by the time we were all locked up it was quarter to eleven, and then there was my admin-bits I needed to get done. All of which I finally sorted by about twenty to twelve.”  
“By which time I was miles away,” chimed in Kayleigh. “Spent the evening with two of the girls I used to work with in River Island. Saw the New Year in with them at that place we went to once,” - she was pointing to Monique - “the place with the really nice wines where we went after the three of us did high tea that time.”  
Monique smiled as she nodded at the memory.  
“So yeah. I got home just after one and basically crashed...” - which wasn’t true, but she didn’t think it appropriate to explain why she wasn’t able to get any sleep for nearly an hour after getting home - “...but then the kids were up early, and that got Misty excited,” - she sighed - “and that was the end of my lie-in.”  
“Misty?”  
“My dog.”  
Paul was nodding. “So, after all that, you didn’t actually see in the New Year together.”  
“I didn’t see it in at all,” said John. “My head hit the pillow and I was out. That short break was enough to keep me going until after we closed the store but that was all.”  
“I really enjoyed my night out”, added Kayleigh. “Time with those two is always fun, but this,” - she took John’s arm - “this is even better.”

“Still,” said John, his cheeks beginning to blush, “that’s the last time I’ll be doing that. Just two weeks to go until I become the oldest office boy in my new job.”  
“There’ll be a few of those coming up, won’t there?” asked Paul.  
“Hm?”  
“A few “last times”, like, um, the last time you’ll be involved in Christmas and New Year shutdowns.”  
“True.”  
“People-management work?”  
“Hopefully. Hopefully none, I mean. Plus no more six o’clock starts and eleven-hour days. Not often, anyway.”  
Kayleigh looked confused. “Huh?”  
“There’s bound to be a few longer days as the project carries on,” explained John. “But it won’t be like it was, when it was every weekday for weeks on end.”  
“And no carrying the work phone every day, either,” she added.  
“True,” said John as he swiped the face of the work phone out of habit. And frowned. “Battery’s a bit low - can I plug this in?”  
“Sure.” Paul was pointing. “There’s a fast-charger over there.”

After carefully sitting Sophie upright, John went over to the small table in the corner of the room. His mother then took the opportunity to ask what she and Rose had both been wondering. “So, Kayleigh. With John being as busy as he is - we heard about him not getting to the wedding of young Donna - do you get to see each other at all? Apart from around work, I mean.”

“Well, Mrs...” - she checked herself - “Olivia, we were both at the wedding but John couldn’t stay for the reception. I’ve been staying with him at Cath’s place while he’s house-sitting. Not every night, like last night, but when I can. Like tonight, since we’ve both got a six o’clock start in the morning.”

If Olivia was unsettled by that tidbit she didn’t let it show. “Oh, right. And how is Cath?”  
“Um, okay, I suppose. I’ve not actually seen her since she went over to Area Office about a month ago.”  
“Where John’s going to?”  
“Yes.”  
“She’s still knocking about in that big house of hers?”  
“Yes.”  
“Lovely place.”  
“It is,” Kayleigh admitted, “although...”  
“Hm?”  
“I’m not sure about some of the art she’s got.”  
Both Paul and Monique were nodding in agreement. “Yeah,” said Paul, “some of it is quite “arty” rather than being nice to look at.”

“Have you managed to make friends with Muffin yet?” asked Monique.   
Kayleigh shrugged. “John’s her favourite, obviously,” - she smiled - “but she’s getting better with me. It is taking a while, though.”  
“That’s because you didn’t wash your hands the first time like I told you,” piped up John as he sat down. “The smell of soap gets her curious, the smell of other animals just puts her off you.”  
“Ah. So how is the little one?” asked Monique.  
“Still little.”  
“Still smacking you with her tail to wake you up in the mornings? Still crawling under the duvet whenever she wants? Still knocking your things over to get your attention?”  
John mock-groaned - “Yes” - then smiled.  
“You love that cat, don’t you?”  
His smile softened. “I do, actually...” He reached for his phone.  
While John showed Monique the series of selfies he’d taken with Muffin “so Cath knows she’s okay, no other reason”, Olivia took the chance to press Kayleigh a little further.  
“So, when you’re not at work, what do you tend to do? Have you two been anywhere nice?”  
“Well, the lead-up to Christmas was hectic, like always,” Kayleigh began. “And there was a long stretch when John was just so busy that we could basically only talk at work during breaks. And on the phone afterwards, obviously. But we did get to Donna’s wedding. And then there was the show in the music studio the next day.”  
“The what?”  
“It was a muckabout that turned into a bit of a practice,” replied John. “Jim sorted it for me to join in when they play a gig near the end of the month.”  
“It was great to watch them,” said Kayleigh. “I recorded some of it on my phone. Want to see?”  
There was a collective “Oh, yes,” so Kayleigh pulled her phone from her pocket and brought up the list of videos. The family group gathered around to watch, with the exception of John who was making faces with Sophie.  
“Are you not in this, John?”  
“I’m playing in the last handful of songs. This is the first bit.”  
“So if you’re not playing, who’s on keyboards?”  
“Helena. Twenty-something and as good a player as I’ve ever seen.”  
“They do sound better than this,” said Kayleigh, almost apologetically. “This phone isn’t the best for sound.”  
“Can you play something with John in it?” asked Olivia.  
“Sure,” said Kayleigh as she skipped ahead. The group watched as the view shifted from the lead singer to John and the short brunette who were standing at the pair of keyboards to one side of the drumkit. A voice from nowhere said “Here’s one by Bob Seger”, at which the faces of John and the brunette both changed from happy to deadly-serious in an instant - and stayed that way even though neither of them had anything to do for the first minute other than nod their heads to mark time.

The entire group was now watching the video, with the exception of John who limited himself to quick glances while keeping Sophie amused.  
When it was done Paul gave John a gentle nudge. “You still can’t watch yourself play, can you?”  
John grimaced. “No. Especially when I’m that terrible.”  
“I’ve got to say - there was a lot of laughing going on.”  
“Yeah. It was a “no fault” practice, meaning there’s no finger-pointing when you mess up. Which was lucky for me.” He was quiet for a moment. “They’re all really good. Jim’s been playing with them for just a few months and is already noticeably better. The rest of them are all multi-instrument, except Adam on drums. But you heard him sing before. And, boy, can he sing.”  
“Well, so can you.”  
“Yeah, but I’m not doing any in the gig. I’m there for keyboards, plus some oohing and ahhing along the way.” He cracked a smile then turned back to Sophie who had been pulling at his shirt sleeve. “Hello there.”  
“Can we play guitar now?”  
John looked at Paul who nodded.  
“All right. Go and get it. But please don’t wake your Nana, okay?”  
“Okay...” Sophie was already half-way out the door.

“Did you say Jim’s been playing with them for a while?”  
“He’s been doing some part-time session work at the studio. But they also play the occasional gig. Usually blues, sometimes jazz. That’s how Jim got me included for the classic rock show coming up.”  
“So are you and Jim not playing any more, then?”  
“We are. We will be, once all this carry-on with my job is finished. Charlie is keen to play with us as well, to get back into playing live shows.”  
“Which one is that?”  
“The bass player.”  
“Her?”  
“Yep. Been playing for twenty-odd years, been in bands on and off for most of that time. She’s keen to give it another go.”  
Monique whistled. “She’s tall.”  
“Yep. Six foot and change.”  
“Aren’t tall girls Jim’s thing?”  
“Yes. But she’s married to Guy.”  
“Which guy?”  
“The lead singer. His name is Guy.”

It didn’t matter how many times Kayleigh heard that Charlie was married; each time it brought her a little rush of relief. Relief that the undeniably talented, unfeasibly tall, supremely confident woman who thought nothing of inserting herself far into men’s personal spaces was almost certainly not a rival.

********************

Cath Hilton’s lounge, nine-ten pm

John had been friendly and attentive since they’d returned from Paul’s two hours earlier, but Kayleigh had sensed that he was preoccupied with something. She’d expected his mood to lift once he’d finished getting things ready for their early start the next morning, but there was still... something... on his mind. Even an eight o’clock icecream-fix hadn’t done the trick.  
She didn’t want to make any fuss about what might be nothing at all, or nothing of consequence. But she didn’t want to go to bed without at least giving him a gentle prod about it.

“John?”  
“Yes?”  
She stroked his hair. “Everything all right in there? You’re a bit quiet.”  
“No, I’m good.” But he was now looking at her intently.  
“John?”  
He was quiet for a moment, then, “Get your phone out.”  
“My... phone?”  
“Yep.”  
“Not my...?”  
“What?”  
She cleared her throat. “Never mind.”  
“Bring up the videos you took at the practice last Sunday.”  
“Okay.”  
“Are these in the same order they were playing?”  
“Yeah. Well it’s not everything, but the order hasn’t been changed. I mean, I got the first three songs but not all of them. Not until you joined in.”

John went quiet as they watched the videos, occasionally jumping around in each video before moving on to the next. Kayleigh noticed that John seemed to be looking more than listening, and was about to mention it when he stopped the playback and turned to her.  
“Okay, he said, “is it about here that you started to get bored with it?”  
Kayleigh looked surprised. “Um...”  
“It’s not a criticism, just a question. The video starts getting a bit wobbly here, so was this the point where you got bored?”  
“I wasn’t bored. They were really good. They are. It’s just, by then I’d heard enough of them and wanted to see you playing. With them.”  
“Hmm.” John took note of the lengths of the videos. “So, just over ten minutes or so was your lot. Until later when I started playing, right?”  
“Well, yeah. About that long.”

He was nodding as he reached for his phone. “Right. I need to call...  
Hi Jim.  
Good, mate. You?  
Is that Karen I can hear?  
And Peter? Say Hi for me, will ya?  
Right. Well, actually, I, um - I’ve worked out what’s bothering me about the gig.  
It’s the set list. You guys should play the two Purps’ numbers near the beginning, one after the other. Highway Star then Burn.  
Yeah, I know I did.  
I know that as well. Look, just hear me out, yeah?   
Okay. The current order is fine for a standard gig. You know - good start, solid middle, big finish. What you’ve forgotten - no, try again - what we’ve all forgotten is that this isn’t a normal gig. You want to use this to promote the studio and yourselves to the music bods that will be there, right? Now, they’re only going to give each band just enough time to impress them before they lose interest. About ten or so minutes, most likely.”  
He glanced at Kayleigh before continuing.  
“And since you guys are last on the bill, you need to make a good early impression or they’ll just head for the door.  
So. Start with Black Betty to get the crowd going.  
Then straight into Star. It’s got guitars, bass and drums locked in right from the start, followed by that monstrous keyboard section along with your solos.  
Ahuh.  
Then Burn. Jesus. Just thinking about those drum parts is exhausting. Add to that all the tempo changes and more keyboard magic, and...  
Exactly. Nail that pair and you’ll have given them a twelve-minute showcase of what you’re all capable of. If that doesn’t impress them, nothing will. Then you can just play for the fun of it.  
I mean - it’s gonna be hard for you and Guy to nail those vocals right from the get-go, but Helena can give you a keyboard-assist for the really high stuff. Plus your guys’ solos will have to be on point, but, mate - pull them off and you’ll have the crowd on your side if nothing else.”

John was quiet for a while, then said little more than “yep” and “ahuh” before “then whip through the instrumentals, then ZZ. And then I haul my sorry arse on stage for the last few.  
Like it. Liking it a lot.  
Well, do you want to ring him?  
Oh. Well, text him, then. Best not interrupt him, in case he and Charlie are, you know...  
Right. Talk to you later.”

He was smiling as he put the phone down. “He’s going to pass that idea by Guy to see what he thinks. He and Jim will be trading vocal spots and solos during the two Purps’ songs,” he added at Kayleigh’s questioning look, “so they both need to be on board with it.”  
“What are “Purps”?”  
“Deep Purple.”  
“Oh right. Don’t know them.”  
“You probably do, but... never mind that now. Fancy another tea before bed?”  
“Um, no. But go ahead.”

********************

John was settled on the sofa with a now-robed Kayleigh leaning against him when his phone rang ten minutes later. “It’s Jim. Here we go...  
Hi Jim.  
Right...  
Sure.  
Great.  
Well, I was inspired, wasn’t I?”  
A pause.  
“Yep,” he said, looking directly at Kayleigh, “inspiration is a beautiful thing.  
Next practice is on Friday night, yeah?  
Very good.  
See ya then, bud.”

John put his phone on the arm of the sofa with a satisfied grunt.  
“He ended up talking to Guy, who called Adam and Helena about my idea. They’re all on board with it. Plus they’re going to bring more techs along to the gig itself to make sure their setup is perfect, which will help them plus the other bands playing on the night. It does mean a lot more practice though, going up to four nights a week plus a big Sunday session each week for the rest of the month. All of which you are very welcome to come along to. Or not. But definitely come to the Sunday sessions which will be family and food like last time.”  
“Could I bring Steve this Sunday? He likes the kind of music you’ll be playing.”  
“Don’t see why not. Find out for sure and I’ll let the studio know who to expect on the day.”

There was a moment where neither of them spoke, each content to just be in each others’ company.  
Then Kayleigh nudged his arm. “You said I inspired you.”  
“You did. And I said you were beautiful.”  
Her smile grew broader. “How exactly did I inspire you?”  
“By showing me the videos you took. I was able to watch the practice through your eyes, in a way. If that makes sense.”  
“Not really, no.”  
“Oh. It was like I told Jim. There was something about it that just wasn’t sitting right with me. They’re professional musicians who can play any music you put in front of them and it’ll be perfect, but they’re not performers. Well, Jim is and Charlie was, but - we were focused on getting them all ready to perform for an audience and forgot about them wanting to promote themselves. And you know all about about promoting things, right?”  
“I do.”  
“That “mantra” you have says it’s not enough to tart up the product and put it on display. You need to make an effort with it, because there’s only so much time that you’ll have the customers’ attention before they-”  
Kayleigh finished the sentence - “before they lose interest and move on.” She looked at John curiously. “Didn’t I say that to you not long after we’d started car-sharing?”  
“Sounds about right.”  
“And you remembered it?”  
“Of course I did.” His smile was gentle. “It might not seem like it at times, but I do listen to you. Promise.”

Kayleigh looked into his eyes before leaning in and pressing her lips to his. Then a sly look crept across her face.  
“There’s something else you can promise me. You can promise that you’ll never repeat what I’m about to tell you.”  
He shrugged. “Okay. I promise.”  
“Right. I didn’t get much sleep last night-”  
“Yeah, you said.”  
Kayleigh pressed her finger across his lips. “Let me finish. I didn’t get much sleep last night because Steve and Mandy were shagging like rabbits for ages after I got home.”  
John’s eyes widened.  
“They didn’t hear me get in, obviously. I doubt they heard much of anything, the way they were going at it.”  
John’s eyes widened even more.  
“Anyway. My point is - I didn’t get to see in the New Year with you, we haven’t celebrated it ourselves yet, and we have a stupidly-early start in the morning.”  
He nodded.  
She removed her finger. “That’s your cue to take me to bed, John.”  
His nodding became more animated. “Absolutely. But I’ll need to lock up and turn off the lights and everything first.”  
“Absolutely,” repeated Kayleigh as she stood and walked towards the doorway, removing her robe as she did so. “But if you’re not lying naked next to me in five minutes’ time I’ll start without you.”


End file.
